Vote-counting frame.



l w Ww if?? No. 699,406.- Patented May 6, |902.

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(Application led Feb. 26, 1902.)

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SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Lettere Patent No. 699,403, datent/lay G,1902.

Application-51nd February 26, 1902. Serial No. 95,785. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t mfr/y concern:

Be it known that l, THOMAS CORWIN ORN- DORFF, a citizen el the United'States, and a resident of lVorcesten in the county of Worcester andState of Massachusetts, .have invented a new and useful Vote CountingFrammof which the following is a specifica.-

. termed Australian ballot.

classify the vote marks or crosses on such bal-l ln most States in thiscountry it is usual in event of an election to beheld to prepare print-ved ballots bearing; the designations of the se.veral offices tobefilled, togetherwilh the rames of the several candidates for each olliceand a column in 'which is to be placed a cross or other mark oppositethe name oi' each person voted for. Usually the names-are arranged onthe ballot in two columns of equal width, and the ballot islongitudinally folded in 'the middle, which is the dividing line orspace between the two columns. Such a ballot is To count and lots is, asis well known, a lengthy and tiresome undertaking, particularly where alarge number of votes are cast and there are many offices to be filled.

4 Itis the object of my invention to facilitate and expedite this work,and this result I attain by means of an appliance the construetion andman-ner of use of which- -will now be described by reference to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

vIn the drawings, Figure l is a plan View ol' the complete device. Fig.2 is a central longitudinal section ofthe same, showingthe ballots liungin the frame with one of the rulers e in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is acentral longitudinal section of the complete device. Fig. 4 is a planview of one face of the frame with the ballots in place therein. Fig. 5is a like view of/the opposite face of the frana-uA with the sameballots in place therein, 6 is a cross-section of a 'portion of theframe en larged, showing how the ballots when strung on the cross wiresor lines fold up against one another. Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of apart of the frame, designed to illustrate the uranner inwhich acontinuous cord or wire can heV strung across the frame. the ballotitself.

The frame A itself is an. oblong rectangular frame, across whicharestrctched at efiualn- Fig. 8 is a view of wide.

tervals apart parallel cords or wires n. or any equivalent device uponwhich the folded ballot can be hung. ous cord which is carried acrossthe frame `from one side to the other around pins l) in the sides of theframe, as shown. The interior opposite edges of the sides ot' the frameare longitudinally grooved, as at c. The pins cross the' grooves, andthe cord is threaded in the grooves and around the pins. @ne end ot thecontinuous cord is made fast to the frame and the other end is made fastto a littie winding-barrel f, which can be turned by hand, so as to takeup slack and keep the cord taut. Snchin generalis the frame. To explainmore particularly and in detail, it will be desirable, irst, to referbriefly to the ballot itself. A ballot, or so much of it as needed forpurposes of explanation, is shown unfolded and spread out in Fig. 8."lhe naines of the offices to be lled are arranged in two para-L lelcolumns of equal width., and under each oiice designation appear thenaines of the several candidates for that office, while to the right isa column m, divided into squares, in which the voter marks a crossopposite to the names of the several candidates for whom he votes. .Thelongitudinal central line of fold of the ballot is indicated at n. Theactual l prefer to use a continui ballot itself is somewhat large, thatfrom which the representation in Fig. 8 is drawn being actually betweenthirteen and fourteen inches long and between nine and ten inches Eachcord or crossstrip ol is designed to receive one ballot, which is hungon 1it as clothes on a line. The width of the frame therefore must benot less in the clear than the length of the ballot. The frame may belong:r enough and have a sufficient number of cross-strips a toaccommodate any desired number of ballots. lt is customarymowever, tohandle ballots in 'bunches of fifty, and the frame therefore need belong,T enough only to take that number of @ross-strips or cords. a.These cords are spaced from one another at intervals not less in widththan the width of capacity to receive the ends of ruler-like elas-` ticstri ps e of wood or other suitable material,

2 seefloe which ere sprung into saidlnortises. These strips are appliedto the trarne on opposite sides of the ballots, (after the letterhave'been pnt in the freme,) and theyhold between. them the ballots.v

The manner of use of the i'reme is es fol- .ows: To conveniently ll itwith bsllots, it is' leiddown liet, supported only et its ends, and'raised fer enough above the floor or table lo Awhich it may rest topermit the ballots 4to hang down from the cross-strips or cords' a. Thefolded ballots nre then/put in place; 1 one on each cord a, the ballotetrsddling the "cord and the ballots hanging down .mrellel' l5 with oneanother-,ss seenin Fig. 2. The bale lots ere folded, of course, so astoexpose their marked faces `er columns, and they are put' on the cordsa all in the seme order and soL that likecolumns of the several ballotsshall :zo all face in the same direction, 1When the frame is thus filledwith ballots, one ofthe binding-strips eeen be pnt in place, and thenthef-rmue. is raised on end and immediately the ballots fold up lintMeinst one another z5 into what is virtually e sheet which premi yInelly fills the frame, as neen in Fig. 4. The ,other bindingstrip e isthen. put in piece, .end the ballots are held firmly in position. Theheels of the ballots nre then sill of thorn 3o alined against the eideof the freine that ed,-

ioins them. When this hns been done, it will be found that all thecorresponding divisions of the several ballots are in register and thatafter the first ballot, which hnsone of its felded faces completelyexposed, all of the remaining ballots lieve-only their mier .'ote markcolumns exposed and that corresponding' divisions in ell of thesecolumns are in 'the samefline run ning lengthwise of the frame,

4.o so that by counting the marks in any one of these linesvthe numberof votes (smerig the fifty ballots cest) for the oendidete whose name isopposite that line can et once he ascertained. As convenient means offaciliteting the count the strip c on the fece that isexposed een beremoved end used es e. ruler,

so asto expose each line in. succession. When the count on one fece isconcluded, the ironie is turned over end for end, so as to expone theother fece, as seen in Fig, 5. it -will be seen l that the same orderAappears here es on the other fece. The second hel-l? of the ballot, nowon the right of the line, which contains the remaining; names end oces,is exposed, while owing to theself-spaomg of the rest ol. 5 the ballotsonly their m or votemark columns are exposed in precisely'the same orderes on the other fece. `.l

With the eid of an appliance ol.' this chorztcter Votes een beaccurately end very speed 6o ily counted. In practice two such frameswill be used at cachvotiug-booth, one .freine to be emptied of andrefilled with ballots while the votes in' the other frame are beingcounted.

Having described my invention, what l claim herein es new, und desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isy 1. .l vote-counting frame, consisting ofn, frame proper of n. width not lecs'than the length of the ballot, endlines orce'rds secured 7o to and extending across between thesldo ol?the frame parallel with one another and ot intervals spart about equalto the Width of the m or vote-merk column of the ballot, substanti-allyas and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. A. vote-counting freine consisting of n. freine proper ot' a. widthnot less than the vlength of the ballot, lines or cords extending'across between and secured to the sides of the 8o frame parallel withone another and at intervals epztrt about equal to the width of the m orvote-niark column of the ballot, mortises in the interior oppositeledges of the ends of the freine, end two rules or binding-stripseedepted to be sprung into scid mortises,

substantially as end for the purposes liereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 21st ley ofFebruary', 190;?. 9u THOMAS GORNIN ORNDORFF.

. vtiitnesses:

E. K. LUNDY, Jr., EWELL A. DICK.

